Only look for cars with a BUILD DATE of earleir than 1/1/89. Trust me, you wont be able to bring anything newer in unless you owned it overseas for a year, lived abroad, and have all the receipts to back it up.
Phase I - Buying the car.
Make sure the paperwork reflects that it has a build date of before 1/1/89 - Just do your due diligence and make sure you are happy with the sale before you transfer them any money Once the transaction is done and/or you've made a deposit on it you can go to phase II.
Phase II - Import Approval Certificate.
Before any car can be brought into the country you have to get an Import Approval Certificate. Mine arrived in about 3 weeks. Technically they advise you to get the approval certificate in your hands before you get the car on the ship, as landing a car in Australia without the approval will bankrupt you in fines and get you 120 points on your license
Having said that, my understanding and experience has been that if the car is before 1989 its really a straightforward exercise.
Go to
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roa...B10_form10.pdf
print out and fill in the form. They want to see proof of purchase, but for a Government department they are really helpful, and I got away with just sending a copy on an e-mail chain between me and the buyer, where we had agreed the sale. I also photocopied my paypal recept for the deposit, but not necessarily needed.
Small Hint. Sending off the $50 charge as a money order makes it faster, as the credit card payment, i was told could delay it a few days.
Once you get the copy of the Import certificate, just hold onto it till it arrives.
Phase III - Arranging Collection & Shipping.
I used a compny in the UK called
International Car Shipping. Car transport. GREAT RATES shipping cars overseas. Car delivery. Auto shippers USA auto transport UK Spain France Germany Italy. Boat and Yacht shipping moving - Talk to Andrew Denyard. They were very easy to work with.
This cost me 179 pounds to have an insured driver go collect the car from Nottingham and drive it to Southampton. Make sure the seller has given u a full tank of petrol, or you will pay a premium if the driver has to fill it up.
Also at this point, make sure that the seller sends you a written receipt, with his name, address, phone number, price paid for the car, make & model & VIN/Chassis number, plus your address details etc. Get the seller to send this to you registered post at the time of sale, along with the signed V5C - which is the UK transfer of title document.
Shipping costs ...
879 pounds per car ($1700 AUD) + $70 for documentation fees.
If you want insurance, add 2% of the cars value.
The price I paid was for a Roll on / Roll Off (RoRo) ship. This is way cheaper than shipping it in a container. The ferries leave UK every 2 weeks from Southampton to Port Kembla NSW, although there are also boats going to Melbourne & Brisbane. The journey takes about 6 weeks.
Once the car is collected, they will then send your paperwork / export documentation to your Import agent. I used Steve White from
Cargo Online - Import Cars, Export Cars, Instant Car Shipping Quotes - he's pretty good with giving advice on the phone and handholding you through the process. I'll post a review of them once I've received my own car, and I find out the total real cost. ** but read below as you might be able to save a few quid.
He's told me that the charges I can expect are ...
Customs/Quarantine charges at destination
Au$229.00
Local Valuation if required
Au$605.00
Customs/Quarantine/DEWR Clearance
Au$467.00
Steam Clean if required
Au$302.00
Port/Statutory authority charges at destination
Au$352.00
Delivery at destination (metro area) if required
Au$396.00
As the car is before 1989, i'm told its HIGHLY unlikely I will have to pay this Valuation Fee. The steam clean may or not be needed depending on the mood of the quarantine guys, and how much mud & mad cow is on your car.
Also rather than pay the $396 for delivery, I've opted to go to Port Kembla next week and put the car on a trailer myself, as delivery to Gosford was gonna cost me $550. ** See later post - its possible to get a temporary permit (UVP) to drive the car home - so no trailer needed**
You will also have to pay 5% duty on the "landed" value of the car - IE what you paid for it to buy it and ship it to the port. Plus 10% GST.
Phase IV - Getting Ready For Arrival
Before the car arrives in AUS, Cargo Online will need a faxed copy of your receipt, plus a copy of the V5C (UK title document) They will also need the ORIGINAL authority to import that you should have received.
After the ship arrives, it should typically take 2-3 days to get the car unloaded and processed through customs etc, after which you should be able to collect it.
I've not had personal experience of these phases, but I'll post more information once I have the grizzly details.
Phase V - After Arrival
Immediately after your car arrives, you need to take it to a weighbride and get a ticket.
Engineering Report - Australian Design Rules
It will also need to have an engineering report done (ADR) by an "Authorised RTA Signatory" - this is to make sure that the car meets the standards in Australia, commensurate for the age and typoe of vehicle, that was for sale in Australia a the time.
Heres where its going to get tricky - and really expensive if you are not on your toes.
The import company put me onto the company that handles their work, but talking to the guy on the phone he started reeling off numbers in the thousands of dollars (and we were talking around 5 grand) that sounded ludicrous. They were talking about $1200 for an inspection, $179 for a weighbridge visit, $500 for child seat anchor points, $1000 for door re-inforcements, more money still for "processing fees", fuel, and other stuff I didnt even have time to write it down.
So I deciced to find my own engineer.
I found a really helpful document
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registrati...ember_2009.pdf
which lists the locations and phone numbers of the engineers who can sign off on the car.
The two things that stood out, is that the car will have to be fitted with child restraint anchor points, and will have to have the door panels taken off to make sure it has the side bars in the doors. Anything else from here is going to be pot luck.
As I understand it, it shouldnt be too much drama if the car has the same engine as was available in Australia. IE bringing a Calibra Turbo with a C20LET, which was also in Holdens.
The good News was that the Engineer in Wyong is only going to charge me $250 for the inspection.
Once thats done, find a place to get in Blue Slipped, then you are in good shape to take it to the RTA with a stack of paperwork to get it registered.
This all sounds quite simple, but BEWARE this guide is just an Intro guide. Make sure you do your homework BEFORE you buy a car overseas, as MANY cars could give you aggro to import and register them. The rules also change from state to state as to the requirements for registration etc.
Again, I'll post more info about my experiences.
If all else fails, Just remeber that you have the option of picking up your car in a trailer and taking it home, then solving all the problems at your own pace and shop around for the good deals. If you are expecting to drive it away a week after its landed, you can do that, but be prepared to pay the big bucks.
I've heard that Audi, Mercedes and Jaguar are among the easiest to bring in, but that BMW can be a nightmare.
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